Flight Safety Information January 31, 2014 - No. 023 In This Issue US FAA downgrades DGCA over aviation safety fears Aircraft missing in Eastern Cape Brazilian man killed in same plane he proposed to girlfriend in Save the Date: 6th Annual Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, TX Drone Ditching Said to Show Need for Care on Unmanned Aircraft TSA Boss Rejects Moves to Arm Officers at Airports NTSB to Hold Investigative Hearing Into August 2013 UPS A300 crash in Birmingham PRISM SMS Beer Drone Can Buzz The Skies No More, FAA Says American Airlines to offer veteran flight attendants $40,000 to deplane First US Airways airplane shows up wearing American Airlines clothes Historic aircraft to be retired at Amarillo museum US FAA downgrades DGCA over aviation safety fears NEW DELHI: Exposing the gross inadequacy of our aviation regulator to ensure safe air travel here, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded India's aviation safety ranking. India has now been put in category II of safety ranking, from category 1 that directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) was in earlier. The decision was conveyed to DGCA's new chief Prabhat Kumar by an FAA delegation on Friday. The downgrade means that Indian carriers will now not be able to add flights to US. Also aircraft of Indian airlines that fly there - Air India and Jet Airways - can be be held indefinitely for checks there, which will make it difficult for them to adhere to schedule. The first to be hit could be Air India which is supposed to join Star Alliance this summer. A number of US carriers are also part of this alliance but American laws prohibit them from entering into commercial relations like code share - a vital part of an alliance. So now if they will be able to do so with AI or not remains to be seen. Jet already has a code share with United. India had for years been trying to evade a downgrade by US FAA due to the serious implications of such a move on Indian carriers by making tall claims on strengthening DGCA. But all that was mainly on paper and in reality the government has struggled to find someone to even head the regulatory agency. After a recent audit last year, FAA found 33 inadequacies in the DGCA. Like in the past, the government this time also tried to get away by making tall claims but the FAA did not buy the same now. "This is a true reflection of the DGCA. Unlike the past when India and US ties wee very good and hence DGCA avoided a downgrade, the relations are not so strong now and hence the move. This will have very serious implications for Indian airlines," said a source. The current category II ranking of India means that DGCA does not meet the norms of International Civil Aviation Organization standards in areas like technical expertise, trained personnel and record-keeping or inspection procedures. Aviation minister Ajit Singh will brief the media on Friday afternoon on the issue. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/US-FAA-downgrades-DGCA-over-aviation-safety- fears/articleshow/29652980.cms Back to Top Aircraft missing in Eastern Cape Johannesburg - A search has been launched for a single-seater light aircraft that went missing near Alexandria, Eastern Cape police said on Thursday. The search began on Wednesday, when one of three light aircraft, flying from Port Alfred to Port Elizabeth failed to land as expected, police spokesperson Mali Govender said. "About 20km from Alexandria, the planes picked up cloud and mist, and each of the pilots took a different route to avoid this." After the aircraft was reported overdue, the police began air and ground searches, and alerted farmers in the area. The search was suspended late Wednesday evening, and continued at first light on Thursday. Two police helicopters, a police fixed-wing aircraft, and another from the Algoa Flying Club, were searching for the missing aircraft. Police were working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority and had support from the military in the search. Spokesperson John Fobian of the police's disaster management in the province described the area being covered in the search as "very vast". "Currently, we have ground support in Uitenhage, Kirkwood, Colchester and Port Elizabeth... Every effort is being made to locate the missing aircraft." http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Aircraft-missing-in-Eastern-Cape-20140130 Back to Top Brazilian man killed in same plane he proposed to girlfriend in A Brazilian flight instructor died in a plane crash just over a month after he proposed to his girlfriend in the same aircraft. Arthur Demetrio, 22, surprised his girlfriend Thays Pereira da Cruz in December by asking her to marry him after three years together. He had even enlisted the help of his parents, who travelled 300 miles to hold up banners in the airfield in the south of Brazil, which said "Thays" and "Marry me". Mr Demetrio posted a video of the proposal on YouTube in which the couple can be seen in the cockpit. Ms Pereira looked thrilled as the pair flew past the banners and Mr Demetrio presented her with a ring. But just two days after uploading the romantic video, Mr Demetrio's plane suffered a fault while he was giving a lesson in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The Cessna 140 aircraft crashed into a field in Cachoeira do Sul, killing both the pilot and student Darlan Kabata dos Santos, 31, on Wednesday. Ricardo Milesi, police chief, told journalists Mr Demetrio had made contact with the control room warning of a problem with the elevator, which controls the nose of the plane. Pictures in Brazilian media showed the twisted wreckage of the plane, nose-first in a soybean field. "It's impossible to bear. We are all in shock," Sandra Pereira, Ms Pereira's mother, told Zero Hora newspaper. "My daughter is speechless. "He was very sweet, loving, playful. He was much loved by his family and friends. Arthur was a spectacular son-in-law." She said he had spoken to Ms Pereira for the last time the morning before the crash. Mrs Pereira added that Mr Demetrio had been "euphoric" at becoming a pilot because flying was his passion. Ms Pereira was reportedly the first to know about the accident after a student at the airbase contacted her. Mr Demetrio's body was released last night and will arrive in his home state of Santa Catarina to be buried. Civil police are investigating the cause of the accident. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/10606796/Brazilian-man-killed-in- same-plane-he-proposed-to-girlfriend-in.html Back to Top Back to Top Drone Ditching Said to Show Need for Care on Unmanned Aircraft The ditching of a government surveillance drone off the California coast shows the U.S. must move cautiously on integrating unmanned aircraft into the skies, a pilots' union leader said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection grounded its fleet of nine remaining drones used to monitor borders and ports after operators had to guide an unmanned aircraft into the Pacific Ocean after a mechanical failure Jan. 27. The accident renewed debate over how swiftly the government should bring unmanned aircraft into the aviation system and how tight the safety standards should be. The Federal Aviation Administration is working on standards for civilian drones, which are now banned in U.S. airspace, and has approved six test sites. "It creates a more complex problem than just pointing it out to sea," Sean Cassidy, national safety coordinator for the Air Line Pilots Association, said in an interview. The loss of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. Predator B shows the issues the FAA must consider if drones will be allowed to fly within a few miles of airliners, Cassidy, who is also first vice president of the largest pilots' union in North America, said. The Predator went into the Pacific Ocean about 11:15 p.m. local time on Jan. 27 around 20 miles southwest of San Diego, Michael Friel, an agency spokesman, said in an e-mail yesterday. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, Keith Holloway, a spokesman, said in an interview. The crew operating the drone, which was modified for maritime environments, put it into the water after determining it couldn't reach its Sierra Vista, Arizona, base, Friel said. 'Cause Unknown' "The cause of the failure is unknown," he said. "There were no injuries as a result of this emergency landing." Because the FAA hasn't drafted regulations allowing routine unmanned-aircraft use, government agencies can only operate drones if they receive special permits. CBP uses its aircraft to patrol both U.S. coasts and the borders with Mexico and Canada, Jenny Burke, a spokeswoman, said in an interview. The Predator B, also known as the MQ-9 Reaper in the U.S. Air Force, can fly as many as 27 hours and reach an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters), according to the website of Poway, California-based General Atomics. It has a wingspan of 66 feet (20 meters) and can carry more than 3,000 pounds (1,361 kilograms) of cameras, weapons or other payload, according to the company. Each Predator costs about $18 million. Safety Debate General Atomics deferred comment to CBP, Kimberly Kasitz, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. At least some of the aircraft was recovered from the water while a U.S. Coast Guard cutter stood watch, Petty Officer Connie Terrell said in an interview. The NTSB, which determines the cause of aviation accidents, has assigned an agency specialist in unmanned aircraft to the case, Holloway said. The FAA will assist. The pilots' union understands that the drone industry is growing rapidly and will inevitably find its place in the skies alongside passenger planes, Cassidy said. The union doesn't want the introduction of unmanned aircraft to threaten the improving safety of airline operations, he said. "If you are going to meet that same high safety bar, it means you better be very careful, very deliberative," he said. ALPA supports requiring drone pilots to be licensed by the FAA. It also has called on the FAA to certify the safety of drone designs as it does manned aircraft. 'No Big Deal' Others said the Predator accident doesn't necessarily signal the need to move slowly. "I don't really see this as a big deal," Mary Cummings, director of Duke University's Humans and Autonomy Laboratory, said in an e-mail. Aircraft such as the Predator, which have no humans aboard and were designed for military use, shouldn't have to meet the same safety standards as a commercial aircraft, she said. After a Customs Predator B crashed into a hillside near Nogales, Arizona, on April 25, 2006, the NTSB concluded an operator inadvertently shut off the plane's engine while trying to deal with a radio-link failure. Investigators found that the Predator's pilot, who was supposed to be monitored by an instructor, had been allowed to fly it by himself. The operator, a General Atomics employee, didn't follow the company's procedures for addressing radio- control issues, the NTSB found. 'Minimal Oversight' "The investigation also revealed that the CBP was providing a minimal amount of operational oversight," NTSB said in its findings. FAA air-traffic controllers typically restrict Customs drone flights to areas where piloted aircraft are banned. The agency's drone operations were faulted for safety shortfalls in a 2012 report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general. Two of the four ground stations from which CBP operated Predators didn't have the backup control equipment required in its operations handbook, according to the report. A third station received a waiver to fly without the backup equipment, according to the report. Customs, in response to the report, said it intended to increase funding to support the flight operations. http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2014/01/31/243706.htm Back to Top TSA Boss Rejects Moves to Arm Officers at Airports The head of the Transportation Security Administration says his agency has officially rejected arming officers in response to a November attack at Los Angeles International Airport. John Pistole made the comments Thursday following the opening of a "pre-check" application site for expedited screening at LAX. The agency is conducting a review of the shooting that left one officer dead. It will focus on changes to improve communication between the TSA and local law enforcement. The Associated Press reported there was a delay of nearly a minute and a half before a radio call alerted officers of the shooting. Pistole says virtually every issue is on the table, except for arming officers. He says introducing more guns is not the solution. The review will be submitted to Congress within 90 days. http://skift.com/2014/01/30/the-tsa-has-rejected-moves-to-arm-officers-at-airports/ Back to Top NTSB to Hold Investigative Hearing Into August 2013 UPS A300 crash in Birmingham, Ala. The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled an investigative hearing on February 20 into the crash of a UPS Airbus A300-600 on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14, 2013. The two flight crew members were killed and the airplane was destroyed when it impacted the ground less than a mile short of Runway 18. The cargo flight had originated from Louisville, Ky. Runway 18 was being used because the main runway at the airport was closed for repairs at the time of the airplane's arrival. The one-day hearing will examine: * Execution of non-precision approaches, including initial and recurrent training, adherence to standard operating procedures, and proficiency * Human factors issues associated with effective crew coordination and resource management applicable to this accident, including decision-making, communication, fatigue and fitness for duty, as well as monitoring and cross-checking, policies, standard operating procedures, guidance, and training provided to UPS crewmembers. * Dispatch procedures, including the training, evaluation, roles and responsibilities of UPS dispatchers and the limitations of dispatch-related software. The investigation is ongoing and this hearing will develop additional facts to support the investigation. The hearing will be held in the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center in Washington, D.C. A detailed agenda and a list of attendees will be forthcoming. Parties to the hearing will include the Federal Aviation Administration, UPS, Airbus, the Independent Pilots Association and the Transport Workers Union. The accredited representative from the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile (BEA) will participate on the technical panels. The determination of the probable cause of the crash will be released when the investigation is complete. Just prior to the start of the hearing, the public docket will be opened. Included in the docket are photographs, interview transcripts and other documents. http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2014/140130.html Back to Top Back to Top Beer Drone Can Buzz The Skies No More, FAA Says Lakemaid Beer Drone Delivery Lakemaid Beer is brewed in Stevens Point, Wis., and distributed to several states in the region. But it was a very local delivery that put the company out of favor with the Federal Aviation Administration. The Minnesota-based company is receiving a flood of support and condolences after the FAA ruled that its beer delivery drone, which had only recently taken flight, had to be shut down. Lakemaid calls itself the fishermen's lager. It had hoped to use drones to deliver its beer to anglers in thousands of ice shacks, from the frozen northern lakes' combination bait and beer shops. But the government says the brewer's next test - which Lakemaid managing partner Jack Supple says was tentatively set for Minnesota's Lake Mille Lacs and the Twin Pines resort - cannot proceed. "We were a little surprised at the FAA interest in this since we thought we were operating under the 400- foot limit," Supple says via email. He adds that the beer-makers "figured a vast frozen lake was a lot safer place than [what] Amazon was showing on 60 Minutes." The brewery's test flight created a stir after it was posted on YouTube last week, capturing imaginations and, in some cases, leading people to say they no longer fear a future in which the sky buzzes with drones. In December, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos gave 60 Minutes a preview of his company's plan to use drones to move to same-day local delivery in the next several years. In an interview last week, Supple said Lakemaid's drone plans had advantages over Amazon's - particularly the flat landscape of a frozen lake and the fairly uniform height of the ice shacks. But as we discussed after the Amazon report aired, FAA rules don't currently allow drones to be used for commercial delivery - and it eventually emerged that the test video Bezos showed was actually filmed outside the U.S., for legal reasons. The agency has scheduled reviews of its rules on drones. Supple says the FAA got in touch to let Lakemaid know its plan broke four - and possibly five - regulations, ranging from the operator's rating to the use of airspace. And that's too bad, he says, because he had big plans. "My intent was to try a larger drone that could fly unmanned, based on just the coordinates" of an ice shack, he says. And the Twin Pines resort "has fish houses out in the bay probably half a mile. So a little longer stretch than we first tested." Drones have been used to deliver beer before - notably at a music festival in South Africa. But the federal agency said it's a no-go in U.S. airspace. "The FAA controls the safety of our airspace all the way to ground level, according to the calls I got from the local inspector and the regional supervisor this week," Supple says. In an email, the agency told Lakemaid that it "recognizes that people and companies other than modelers might be flying UAS with the mistaken understanding" that their actions are legal. But the rules and guidelines used in such cases apply only to people flying model airplanes, the FAA added. After word of the FAA's intervention came out, a White House petition was begun to try to get the agency to allow the brewery's beers to get airborne again. Supply says Lakemaid is figuring out what its next steps are. But he admits that in hindsight, he can see the FAA's point. "I understand their concern," he says. "Drones whizzing around piloted by any knucklehead is probably not the Jetsons future we all imagined." http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/30/269039542/beer-drone-can-buzz-the-skies-no-more- faa-says Back to Top Back to Top First US Airways airplane shows up wearing American Airlines clothes American Airlines Group announced Thursday that the first US Airways to get an American Airlines paint job is out of the shop and in the air. A 15-year-old Airbus A319 got the honor. Its first flight in AA colors left US Airways' Charlotte, N.C., hub Thursday morning and landed at New York's LaGuardia Airport. "Today marks an important next step in our airlines' integration and is a tangible way for customers and employees to see the result of our progress first hand," AA president Scott Kirby said. "The integration of our airlines, including painting the rest of the US Airways fleet, will take many months as we work to deliver value through this merger for our employees, our customers and our investors," Kirby said. American said the job took 13 days from beginning to end: In anticipation of the new coat of paint, the existing paint was gently removed, the aircraft sanded and washed. Following the metallurgical exfoliation, the seams were sealed, the aircraft masked and 80 gallons of specially chosen paint applied to the exterior. A final detailing was completed to ensure the highest shine before sending the plane out the door and back to work. American's new airplanes have been receiving a revamped livery before delivery since the first of 2013, and a number of existing planes has received the re-do. It'll take several years before all airplanes display the new livery, American said. "Approximately 640 aircraft are in line to receive the makeover, with newly arriving legacy American Airlines aircraft already outfitted in the new colors and US Airways aircraft delivered in the new colors beginning this June. By the end of second quarter 2014 American Airlines anticipates that more than 275 mainline and regional aircraft will have been painted in the new livery," the carrier said. American hopes to have pre-merger American and pre-merger US Airways all flying under the same operating certificate by the end of 2015. http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/01/first-us-airways-airplane-shows-up-wearing-american- airlines-clothes.html/ Back to Top Historic aircraft to be retired at Amarillo museum A Douglas DC-3 aircraft is about to complete its nearly seven-decade career by retiring to a museum in Amarillo. In February, the DC-3 will leave Oklahoma City and land at Texas Air & Space Museum at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, where pilots will kill its engines one last time. The aircraft is one of two movable items on the nation's National Register of Historic Places. The other is San Francisco's iconic cable cars. The DC-3 is a monoplane aircraft built in 1945 for the Navy by Douglas Aircraft Co. in Oklahoma City. It has seen continuous use since then, first as a Navy airplane and later as a transport airplane with the Federal Aviation Administration's safety inspection program. This DC-3, built in May 1945, spent its first decade flying worldwide for the Navy. The FAA recently announced that, as the last of its kind, it must go to a museum and make way for a new generation of aircraft. This historic aircraft will be available for public viewing starting in March. http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2014-01-30/historic-aircraft-be-retired-amarillo-museum Curt Lewis